When he regarded round his Republic of Eire dressing room, Martin O’Neill admits he wouldn’t essentially have recognized Robbie Keane as potential administration materials.
Having extra just lately famous Keane’s sterling work accountable for Maccabi Tel Aviv and Ferencvaros, nevertheless, O’Neill has no doubts that the 45-year-old must be firmly on Celtic’s radar to take cost of the membership this summer time.
Keane, who is just not wanting admirers within the Celtic boardroom, is now the bookmakers’ favorite to be Celtic’s subsequent everlasting supervisor.
O’Neill’s time accountable for the Republic of Eire didn’t coincide with Keane on the peak of the striker’s powers however he nonetheless held a wholesome regard for the nation’s most-capped participant and highest all-time objective scorer.
Keane retired from worldwide soccer shortly after being a fringe participant in O’Neill’s squad on the Euro 2016 finals.
After beginning his teaching profession with assistant roles with Middlesbrough and Leeds, he has flourished as a supervisor in his personal proper. Keane guided Maccabi Tel Aviv to the Israeli Premier League crown in 2024, incomes a transfer to Ferencvaros the place he’s at present chasing a second consecutive Hungarian title.
Robbie Keane is chasing a second consecutive Hungarian title as supervisor of Ferencvaros
Interim boss Martin O’Neill says Celtic must be somebody of Keane’s calibre
In an interview this week, Keane admitted he has ambitions to handle at the next stage and has by no means made any secret of the love he nonetheless holds for Celtic the place he scored 16 targets in 19 video games throughout a spell on mortgage from Tottenham within the second half of the 2009-10 season.
O’Neill has sufficient on his plate proper now making an attempt to finish his salvage mission of Celtic’s season, with the 74-year-old nonetheless in rivalry to win a home double after answering the decision to step again into the recent seat for a second time within the tumultuous marketing campaign. He’s greater than prepared, nevertheless, to endorse Keane’s credentials.
‘Why not?,’ stated O’Neill when requested if Keane must be a candidate for the job. ‘Robbie has completed actually effective at Ferencvaros, so why shouldn’t he be?
‘The soccer membership must be somebody of that type of calibre. I labored with Robbie for a few years after I was the Republic of Eire supervisor. We may have completed with him when he was 26 or 27, slightly than the latter a part of his profession.
‘Did he strike me as a future supervisor? That’s at all times exhausting to say. Once I was a participant at Nottingham Forest, for instance, I’m not positive I considered administration all that a lot.
‘The one one who I did assume had all of the attributes to do it was our defender Larry Lloyd. One, he may converse again to Brian Clough. Two, he was massive and three, he was a great speaker within the dressing room.
‘He was very commanding and did properly in his first job at Wigan, getting them promoted. I then performed underneath Larry at Notts County. He’d misplaced a little bit of confidence then and folks anticipated him to take a while away from administration and are available roaring again. However he didn’t, he went into the pub enterprise and I felt he was misplaced to administration.
‘The purpose I’m making is that you just assume somebody shall be a supervisor, and it doesn’t occur. Personally, I might need been probably the most unlikely participant at Forest to grow to be a supervisor.
‘So I don’t know sufficient about Robbie as an individual to say how he would handle a gaggle of individuals in a dressing room, however he’s made a good fist of it to date.’
O’Neill stays coy about his personal future past the top of the season, though he has beforehand hinted at a willingness to remain on at Celtic in some capability.
He insists, although, that the spying mission he and his first-team coach Mark Fotheringham have been noticed on at Preston’s recreation at dwelling to QPR on Easter Monday wasn’t a sign he’s anticipating to have a longer-term function.
‘It was an opportunity to see a stay Championship recreation and I wouldn’t be studying a fantastic deal extra into it,’ he stated.
‘There have been two components to it, actually. I went down as a result of, on the finish of all of it, it’s my opinion we must always nonetheless be gamers. Additionally, I do know the Preston director Peter Ridsdale from approach again when he tried to get me to Leeds United and we’ve got stayed in contact.
‘If there may be somebody who I feel may very well be good for Celtic, the brand new supervisor might need a completely totally different opinion. But when we have been a few gamers in that recreation, at the very least it’s somebody you may placed on the board and say “we checked out them”.’
Striker Kelechi Iheanacho is pushing for a begin after scoring in opposition to Dundee at Dens Park
O’Neill’s precedence is getting probably the most out of the present squad as they aim the Premiership title and Scottish Cup in an interesting finale to the season.
The placing division stays a serious concern for O’Neill, regardless of injury-plagued Kelechi Iheanacho coming off the bench to attain a vital winner in opposition to Dundee at Dens Park final Sunday.
Whereas tempted to now begin the previous Manchester Metropolis participant in opposition to St Mirren at Celtic Park tomorrow, O’Neill stays unsure of his skill to remain the course. With Czech striker Tomas Cvancara struggling for type, it’s a quandary for the supervisor.
‘Iheanacho is fired up and has numerous pure skill,’ stated O’Neill. ‘We’re unsure whether or not to start out him as a result of there’s a good likelihood he will not final the sport. He says he would, however we’ll see. If he stays match between now and the top of the season, we’ll want him.
‘I feel it’s honest to say Tomas may do with extra confidence. He missed two or three probabilities final week, one he would have taken with extra confidence.
‘There have been components of his recreation I used to be happy about however finally centre forwards should stay and die by the variety of targets they rating.’
